Christian Pedersen

Some of you already knows kelly and I will be going home to Denmark for a few weeks from 12/6. I haven’t been home for years and I have a few important events that I don’t want to miss. My mums 70th birthday party, my cousins wedding and luckily I will be home for our annual family weekend away this year as well. I don’t need a holiday by any means. I love what I do and I don’t think running a gym will ever run me down. There are challenges every day but nothing we can’t get through and I much prefer a life with a bit of action and how cool is it to be able to wear track pants and t-shirt to work:) But with that said I will relish the opportunity to see the family again.

When you think of coaches who have helped me along the way, it will be hard not to mention Jack at the top of the list who completely went above and beyond for the gym last year which I will be forever thankful for. This year Marcus has stepped up in a huge way and he will be more than capable of running things while I am away. However, he won’t be alone as Joe has accepted some more responsibility and is ready to help out with classes as well. These two young men are fizzing to really get amongst the classes and help you all out. They have learned a lot over the past months and they are always willing to keep educating themselves to be better coaches. You will all be in good hands with these two around. They are very approachable and super excited to answer any questions you might have.

I will still be sorting out the programming and writing blog posts for you to enjoy, but you won’t have to listen to me go on every day which some of you might enjoy a bit too much.

But don’t you worry these two will run a tight ship for a few weeks while I travel the world. We even get a chance to say hi to Speedy and Jay who are coaching in Dubai.

Still a few weeks left and we have plenty coming up for you all to take part in. Especially our Fundraising Comp and Gym Party on the 10th of June. We keep getting pairs for the comp signed up so make sure you get your name on the list ASAP. If you don’t have a partner yet we can help you find one but you need to tell us.

Christian

Thursday 24/5/17

Skill: Muscle Ups

Level 1: 1-3 muscle ups every min for 10 min

Level 2: Turnover drills to improve your muscle ups or get your first one

Level 3: Work on a weakness – Pulling or Pushing strength

Accessory Work: 3 Rounds of

12 Hollow Rocks

12 Arch Rocks

12 DB Floor Press

12 BB Bent over Rows

Over the weekend Letty, Estrella and Megan Completed the Mt Oxford Odyssey A huge marathon event in the South Island wilderness outside Christchurch. These three ladies have done some crazy adventure races in the past and this one was no exception. In very challenging conditions they traversed through tough mountain terrain and came on top. With the snow falling the night before made for a particular challenging race. But as we all know these three ladies aren’t ones for giving up so they turned up and smashed like always. All these early 6am outdoor sessions are paying off. Well done ladies awesome effort

Christian

Monday 22/5/17

Strength: 10 min EMOM

Odd: 5 Weighted Pull ups

Even: 5-10 Ring Dips/Push ups

WOD: 3 Rounds for Time

15 KB Swings 24/16kg

25 Burpees

50 Double Unders

On this chilly Friday we are updating you all on what is going on at the gym over the coming weeks. There are plenty of new things coming to the gym.

Olympic Program: Starts Tuesday 23/5/17 at 7.30pm. You can sign up now for $120 and get a thorough run-through of the olympic lifts the Snatch and Clean & Jerk which will help you improve your technique and even add some weight to your lifts. This program will also help you in your daily wods, by improving your ability to correctly link reps. It will also give you cues to stay focused on your technique while under fatigue which will be a very important skill to have.

Fundraising Event: Saturday 10/6/17. We are having a Partner Comp starting at 10am and a party starting at 7.30pm. Pairs will be one male and one female. You can sign up now for $10/person and all funds goes towards our two teams going to Nationals. It will be an inclusive comp for everyone to enjoy and participate in. All fitness levels are welcome. There will also be fun things for the spectators too. Non-members can even win a 6 Month Membership (details to be announced)

Apparel Payments: We have sorted it out, but I am still missing a few payments so please make sure you pay it in to our account or you bring the cash into the gym. No apparel will be handed over without payment.

Stay warm today. All classes are still on as normal at this stage but if the snow rolls in keep an eye out on any changes on our Website and Facebook.

Christian

Friday 19/5/17

Strength: Overhead Press

3 x 10 @ 75-80%

WOD: 15 min EMOM

1st: 1-3 Muscle Ups

2nd:  4 Power Snatches (you choose a weight)

3rd: 8 Box over Jump 24/20′

We are seeing huge improvements from all of you when it comes to the weight lifting and skills that we have been focussing on in this program. It is awesome to see everyone embracing the focus we have on technique because I realize some of you just want to come in get a workout done, get puffing and sweating and call it a day. Don’t get me wrong, it is great you are here to just work out. The biggest part of this is walking through the door. Our responsibility is that even if you just want to work out and get a sweat up we still need to make sure you are doing things properly. A) To keep you from getting hurt and B) To uphold the integrity of the program and what the rest of the members are doing during class.

Now to the main point of this post is during class you are all listening and you are performing the reps as needed for that particular wod. With focus on the skills part of our sessions we have been going through progressions and positioning with all of you and during class everything is looking good, But then two things happen that I want to address today:

Frist point: Some of you seem to forget the fact that the progressions and positions we teach you in class during a skills section will still hold true during a wod for time. Turning on the clock is not an invitation for you to just do what you want as fast as possible. The positions we teach are meant to be carried through in every workout you do. Example: Yes squatting to above parallel is faster than squatting below parallel but that doesn’t mean you should do that to get a faster time. For a healthy uninjured individual A Squat at our gym means hip bone passes below the crease of the knee and you come back up to full extension and the ankle, knee and hip. There is no grey area. This goes for all exercises. We do not turn on the clock for you to shorten the range of motion to get the fastest time of the day. We turn on the clock to give you accountability in performing full range of motion as fast as you can to the best of your ability. There is a huge difference. If you find it hard to reach full range of motion you slow the movement down and reach full range and if you can’t we give you a progression to help you reach full range over time. This goes for all exercises.

Second point: What we teach you about any exercise on a Monday is still the same if it was any other day of the week. Example: If you are struggling with push ups on your feet and we have helped you get a full range, chest to ground push up on your knees on Monday, you do not do half range push ups on your feet during the warm up on Thursday. You keep practicing knee push ups until you feel stronger and then we will help you with the next progression until you are strong enough to do full range push ups on your feet. It seems that some of you find it almost offensive to be told to take a step back and use a progression rather than your own version of an exercise. Our focus is on helping you become a fully functioning human being and that cannot happen if you don’t want to remember what we have taught you during the week.

Make sure you always take a step back and think about why we give you progressions and why we keep drilling positioning. I can guarantee you, it is not to see how pissed off we can make you, or to slow you down during the wod so you don’t beat your best friend using half reps. We want to help you that is it. full stop.

We take our job serious and I know you will appreciate it in the long run. Remember every time you don’t hit full depth on a squat a puppy dies.

Slow is smooth and smooth is fast, ergo slow things down and reach full range of motion.

Christian

Thursday

WOD: 5 Rounds for Time

400m Run

21 Back Squats 40/30kg

18 TTB

15 HSPU

With winter and the colder weather coming, motivation will start to be a big factor so make sure we all do what our community does best and motivate people. Keep all your friends accountable for turning up to classes. You know how it feels when you get a message about “Where have you been?” or “why weren’t you at class?” It makes you feel good because they care that you are there and they want to work out with you. A little message like that could be the sole reason they come back to classes and start training again. Over this period it is important that we all help each other out, it will be a great way to combat those winter blues.

This would also be a great time to ask a friend to come in and try one of our classes. it is so much easier to motivate yourself when you are training with a group of people. It makes training a lot more fun when you have that banter going on as well as getting a training session in. There is no point doing it if you are not having fun. So get them down here and show them that training during winter can still be fun if you have other people around you to motivate you and keep you happy. Keep each other on your toes:)

Christian

Wednesday 17/5/17

Strength: Front Squats

3 x 10 @ 75-80%

WOD: 3 Rounds for Max Reps

Min 1: DB Thrusters 20/15kg

Min 2: Sit Ups

Min 3: KB Swings 24/16kg

Min 4: KB Goblet Lunges

Min 5: Rest

As the weather gets colder and winter rolls in it will be even more important to get warm before working out. Do a couple of easy stretches at home nothing too elaborate focus on extremities I.E. calves, forearms, hamstrings and quads. When you drive down put the heaters on in the car to stay warm. Make sure you get here a few minutes early and when you get here go for a short jog, do a few more stretches and by then the class warm up will be starting and you will feel a lot better during class. You know more about which of your muscles are tight and therefore which needs more warming up so make sure to focus on them throughout the session. Still follow the class warm up to not disrupt the class flow but during any strength section nothing is stopping you from stretching and doing anything to stay warm.

This will also be a good time to spend a couple of evenings doing extra stretching at home to minimize the time you need to stretch before each class to be ready. Being more mobile and needing less time to warm up will make you stress less about getting read to lift, which will stop you from doing lifts you are not ready for like not doing enough warm up sets or picking up a barbell before your body is ready.

Of course the morning classes are at higher risk of this happening so make sure you get as ready as possible before class starts. We will of course also start focussing more on warm ups than we already are to make sure the cold weather doesn’t interfere with peoples readiness.

Christian

Tuesday 16/5/17

Strength: Every 2 min for 12 min

2 Hang Cleans – 1 Clean – 1 Split jerk

Build in weight

WOD: 7 min AMRAP

Ascending Ladder

3-6-9-12 etc.

Deadlift 100/70kg

Box Jumps 24/20′

Accessory Work:

3 Rounds of

10-30 sec Hanging L-Sit

10 Hollow Rocks

10 Arch Rocks

Reminders:

Our Olympic Lifting Program starts on the 23rd of May Make sure you sign up if you need extra help with the snatch and clean and jerk. It is technique specific.

We have our Fundraising Partner Comp 10th of June make sure yo find a partner and get signed up at the gym.